The Replacement
by MaiKujakufan
Summary: When Lenalee's gone Komui doesn't work and the science division doesn't sleep. To get the boss working again Reever sees if Miranda can be a temporary replacement coffee maker and it works better than anyone imagined. KomuixMiranda oneshot.


Mai: Alright this is my first -man fic so go easy please. I always thought these two would make a cute couple. Anyway I'm planning to do a longer fic with two ocs. I wanted to include these two as a side couple but I'm not sure if I can fit them in so I wrote this one. And we'll see how everything goes. Knowing me and my current schedule I might not even get that out in the foreseeable future. So enjoy. Happy Thanksgiving!

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of -man except for the copies of the English manga translation that have come out so far.

"AGH!" Komui Lee groaned for the thirty-seventh time that hour (Reever counted). "How am I supposed to get any work done without Lenalee's amazing coffee? No other

substance measures up!" he whined.

"Sir, Lenalee's out on a mission. She's doing her job, and I'd really appreciate it if you could do yours," Reever said trying to remain calm. It wasn't easy. Komui as usual had been crying since the moment his sister left and had therefore done almost nothing in the past three days. So the entire science branch had to compensate for it. None of them had gotten more than twenty consecutive minutes of sleep since the wretched event.

"You're soooo cold, Reever! You have no idea what I'm going through!" Komui insisted sounding like a spoiled five year old.

Groaning Reever turned around and headed back to his desk fighting both the urge to hit his boss and the mother of all migraines.

"Still no luck?" Johnny asked sounding like a zombie.

"If only we could find some sort of temporary replacement," Reever muttered. "Short of a major crisis that's the only thing that'll get him working again."

"Um, excuse me," a soft female voice said from the door.

Turning around Reever saw Miranda Lotto leaning into the room. His face lit up as an idea came to him. Yes, the tall dark-haired female exorcist could just be the answer to all their prayers.

Noticing that she was attracting mischievous stares from the entire science division Miranda started feeling a bit nervous. What had she done this time? She'd only been in the room two seconds surely that wasn't enough time to annoy an entire room of people?

"Uh, I-I'll come back la-later," she stuttered starting to back out of the room.

"Miranda, I have a favor to ask if that's alright," Reever said pouring on all the charm his tired frustrated body was capable of.

"O-ok, what is it?" she asked not sure how well this could end.

"Do you know how to make coffee?"

***

_I will not spill. I will not spill. I will not spill,_ Miranda repeated her new mantra over and over again in her head as she headed towards Komui's office with a heavy tray. Reever knocked on the door for her praying that this worked.

"Come in," Komui wailed.

_I will not spill. I will not spill,_ Miranda kept repeating silently as Reever opened the door.

"Miranda?" Komui said surprised. "Is something wrong?"

"I-I made you some coffee. Reever said it might help you concentrate better," she said trying to focus on getting the tray safely to the desk.

"Thank you. That was very nice of you. Here let me help you with that," he offered.

"I've got it," she assured him blushing. She'd never really noticed before how nice his smile his smile was. Well at least when it wasn't caused by his latest science project. It was nice that he appreciated something she did and it made her determined to make it all the way to his desk without spilling.

"No, I insist," he said standing up and shifting some papers before turning to try to help her.

That was where it all went wrong for Miranda. He reached out for the tray and she tried to maneuver around him. In her attempt to do so she tripped over his foot sending the whole pot of coffee splashing all over him. He jumped back letting out a small hiss of pain.

"Oh my god! I am so sorry!" Miranda exclaimed horrified. "I can't believe how worthless I am. I'm not even able to do something this simple without hurting someone."

"It's fine, Miranda. I have quick reflexes my coat took most of the damage," he assured her.

"I ruined your coat and the coffee could've burned you!" she wailed tears starting to come to the surface. "I couldn't hold down a job before I came here. Even as an exorcist I'm not strong enough. I can't protect my friends! No matter how much I train it's never enough! When Reever asked me to make you coffee I thought that I'd finally found something useful I could do."

By the time she finished her speech she couldn't bare to look at him anymore. She stared at the floor her tears cascading onto the carpet.

"You're not weak," he said placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. He ran his other hand over her cheek and pushed her dark hair out of her face. "When I first met you I was amazed at how strong you were."

Miranda looked up him confused. Of all the adjectives in the world she was sure that was the last one he (or anyone else for that matter) would ever associate with his first impression of her.

Almost as if he read her mind he gave her a soft little smile and wrapped his arm around her waist to pull her closer to him. "You gave everything you had to your friends. They told you that you'd hurt yourself if you didn't let go, and you held on anyway for the sake of those you love. Miranda, that's a truly incredible quality. But you can't keep your loved ones from ever getting hurt. I learned that the hard way. Sometimes you have to be a little selfish and think about your own needs. If you don't starting looking out for yourself a little more eventually you'll break and cause everyone around you pain. If anything were to happen to you everyone would be devastated including me."

Miranda gazed into his eyes struck speechless by the caring way he stared at her. Seeing how she was struggling to figure out how to respond to this situation made realize just how badly she needed someone to love her. In that moment he decided that he wanted to be the man that made her understand what love is.

He leaned in and gently brushed his lips against hers. Before her brain could kick in and ruin the situation her body reacted making her kiss him back and put her arms around his neck.

Inevitably they had to break the kiss and her doubts and confusion finally set in. "Wh-why?" she stuttered nervously.

"I want you to let me fall in love with you," he told her.

"B-but I-I'm so-so wor-" she started before he cut her off by kissing her again. This one was a bit more forceful than the first kiss as he tried to communicate that he meant every word he told her.

"Don't ever say that again," he said sternly. "As long as you keep saying that and making unrealistic expectations for yourself you'll never be happy."

"I don't know how else to be," she whispered ashamed.

"I'll show you if you let me in," he told her smiling. The more she thought about what he was offering the more she realized that he was right. She nodded her agreement and wrapped her arms around him.

"I'll clean your coat for you," she said.

He laughed having completely forgotten about his stained clothing. "You really don't have to," he said.

"I'll feel horrible if I don't," she said stubbornly. "And I'll make you some more coffee."

"Now that I'll gladly accept the first pot smelled so good," he said practically drooling.

"Thank you," she said blushing. "You need to get back to work before you kill Reever and the rest of the science department."

"I haven't worked them to death yet. They've gone entire months living like this before three days won't hurt them."

She smiled at him. "Still, it's best you not torture them anymore."

"You should listen to her," a menacing voice echoed through the room. The two turned around to see Reever's head peering through the door with a crazed potentially murderous look in his eyes.

Miranda giggled. She kissed Komui on the cheek then followed Reever out to go make her new boyfriend his caffeine boost.


End file.
